1. Field
The present disclosure relates to grain processing and more particularly pertains to a new grinding method and system for producing particles of highly uniform sizes.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In the known processing apparatus for grinding grain into livestock feed, the grain is typically passed through a series of grinding apparatus that are progressively more aggressive, and have more teeth per inch and smaller grinder separations, than the previous grinding apparatus in the series, in order to try to achieve the desired grain particle size, which is typically in the range of approximately 200 microns to approximately 1000 microns.
However, when the grain is simply passed through a series of grinding assemblies, there is a tendency to produce material particles with a highly non-uniform size distribution, with some particles having the desired size, but with many particles being ground to a much finer size than is desired (e.g., some particles have a size that is so fine that they are similar to the size of flour) as well as some particles having a size that is significantly greater than the desired size. Thus, while the size of the particles on average may be at the desired size, there is a relatively large standard deviation with respect to that average.
The presence of the “fines” or particles under approximately 200 microns is highly problematic in that, for the purpose of livestock feed, the fine ground particles may cause digestive problems in the livestock such as, for example, causing gastric ulcers in pigs. Furthermore, from an efficiency standpoint, energy most likely has been wasted to grind the particles into this overly fine condition, as well as simply creating dust that is not present if the particles are simply ground to the desired size.
The relatively large standard deviation from the desired size is also problematic, since if fine size particles are present with particles of larger size in a highly non-uniform mixture, the particles are more likely to form blockages (such as bridging) in the feed handling apparatus as the particles of different sizes lock together in a manner similar to the aggregates in concrete.